Bihar cabinet to be expanded soon: Manjhi

Patna: After winning the trust vote comfortably, a happy Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Friday said he would soon expand his cabinet.
"Cabinet will be expanded soon," Manjhi told reporters outside Assembly after winning confidence motion in the House during a special session.

He, however, did not mention the date for carrying out the expansion and merely said "soon."

The CM said his cabinet will be expanded to its maximum limit of 35. On May 20, 18 members including Manjhi were sworn in by Governor D Y Patil.

All the 15 ministers in the Nitish Kumar cabinet found berth in the Manjhi government. Two independents--Dulalchand Goswami and Binay Bihari, extending support to the JD(U) government were also administered oath on Tuesday.

Amid opposition BJP accusation of "immoral" alliance between JD(U), RJD and Congress to stick to power in the state in order to keep BJP out, Manjhi said he never asked for support from Lalu Prasad`s party who voted for his three-day old ministry on its own.

"I had support of 124 MLAs, including 4 of Congress, against the magic figure of 118 in the House whose effective strength at present is 237...There was no problem in my ways to win trust vote...But since RJD voted for me in the name of social justice I thank them," Manjhi said.

Asked if coming together of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar after 20 years would continue in future also, the Bihar CM said, "These are issues of future."

Manjhi, who hails from Mahadalit community, poorest sub-section among dalits, expressed fullsome praise for former chief minister Nitish Kumar who chose him as his successor.

"Nitish Kumar`s love for weaker sections was no show off...You all are witness to the episode when he had offered his own chair to `mountainman` Dasrath Manjhi credited with carving out roads through mountains in Gaya," he said.